Friday, May 25, 2012

Time for Action on damning report
Our damning report, Ignorance, injustice and neglect about NHS specialist services for people with M.E. based on the results of Freedom of Information Act requests to all Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England, Health Boards in Scotland and Wales and Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland is now available to download in full via the above link or as an Executive summary.
The responses from your local PCT, board or care trust to our key questions are on pages 27 to 29 of the report. An overview of the results throughout the UK and our conclusion are on pages 16 to 26.
http://www.actionforme.org.uk/OneStopCMS/Core/CrawlerResourceServer.aspx?resource=f11e86c4-9ca3-4185-9934-e43f7e4b3bec

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Abstract

Abstract Objective. Patients with perceived food hypersensitivity typically present with multiple health complaints. We aimed to assess the severity of their intestinal and extra-intestinal symptoms. Materials and methods. In a prospective study, 84 patients referred to our outpatient clinic for investigation of perceived food hypersensitivity were enrolled consecutively. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was diagnosed according to the Rome III criteria. Severity and impact of bowel symptoms, fatigue and musculoskeletal pain were evaluated by using the following questionnaires: The IBS Severity Scoring System (IBS-SSS), the Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS), the FibroFatigue Scale (FFS), and visual analogue scales (VAS) for scoring of musculoskeletal pain. Results. All but one patient were diagnosed with IBS, 58% with severe symptoms. Extra-intestinal symptoms suggestive of chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia were demonstrated in 85% and 71%, respectively. Neither IgE-mediated food allergy nor organic pathology could explain the patients' symptoms. Nevertheless, malabsorption of fat was demonstrated in 10 of 38 subjects. Conclusions. Perceived food hypersensitivity may be associated with severe, debilitating illness. The comorbid triad of IBS, chronic fatigue, and musculoskeletal pain is striking and may point to a common underlying cause.